Gargoyles 

Curator: What a captivating piece. This painting is called "Gargoyles" by Michael Parkes. It seems to be done with acrylic and watercolor. What strikes you first about it? Editor: The precarious balance, really. This innocent girl blowing bubbles at these muscular, grotesque gargoyles perched, soaring…It's a potent blend of serenity and simmering tension. There’s an almost unnerving calm in the chaos. Curator: I think you are onto something there. Parkes often explores this tension between innocence and experience, often drawing from esoteric traditions. It reflects a broader societal fascination with archetypal symbols. Notice how the girl in this fantasy artwork is a vision of classicism while the gargoyles remind us of medieval architecture but at the same time are reinterpreted through a modern lens. Editor: Right? And I'm immediately drawn to this kind of dance he's created between the solid and the ephemeral, like the permanence of the gargoyles versus the transient soap bubbles that have also this sense of impending destruction. Is it alluding to some kind of cyclical existence maybe, with destruction followed by recreation? Or does this art piece question the illusionary world as opposed to reality? Curator: Very insightful questions, those might very well have been the goal of the artist. But it could also be viewed through a political angle. Some critics interpret Parkes' work, especially his frequent depictions of fantastical creatures, as symbolic representations of power structures, with the gargoyles serving as metaphors for established institutions. Editor: Oh! I like that reading, especially within a modern context, seeing it with the institutions metaphor…It gives this painting yet another meaning that I had not considered initially. For me this piece echoes childhood imagination, the dreams and fears that coexist, how this very tangible reality interacts and confronts imagination…but viewed in this new context gives me food for thought. Curator: Well, either way, "Gargoyles" makes for a potent and multifaceted viewing experience, inviting us to consider a complex intersection of historical echoes and personal experiences, rendered in this singular artistic vision. Editor: Absolutely, there's a definite layered beauty at play here. From fairy tales to political reflections it has you walking the line between realities. Thanks for this enlightening experience.